Time recording machine



Feb. 3, 1942. H, DEANE ETAL 2,271,914

TIME RECORDING MACHINE Filed March 5, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 'IIIlllII/IIIA jzfi G 1 E 11mm 1mg filll [111g 50 f 1 E lift/anal) 9 2727-717. Hearse fiawZZYTP/Zlftkani Feb. 3, 1942. H; N. DEANE ET AL TIME RECORDING MACHINE Filed March 5, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA \J Jake 240150 Ercz'er Bulb Patented Feb. 3, 1942 TIME mioonnmc MACHINE Henry N. Deane, Gardner, Mass., and Edward M. Pritchard and Elbert W. Sherman, New York, N. Y., assignors to Simplex Time Recorder 00., Gardner, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts ApplieationMarch 5, 1940, Serial No. 322,348

2 Claims.

This invention relates to recording machines and is of general application, but is shown herein as embodied in a time stamp of the type commonly used for stamping a single time record on a card, paper or other record sheet.

The greater number of such time stamps, as heretofore known, have been provided with a plunger or lever for manual stamping of the record. Certain stamps have been provided with electrically actuated stamping mechanism, controlled by a hand-operated switch, and in certain other stamps the switch or some mechanical element has been moved to operative position by contact of the record sheet- These latter machines, while convenient to operate and reasonably satisfactory when used with cards or relatively stifi record sheets, have not always proved satisfactory and reliable when used with light or thin sheets of paper.

It is the general object of our invention to provide a time stamp or other time-recording machine in which the record will be automatically stamped by presentation of the sheet but without engagement with any tangible operative part.

More specifically, our invention relates to a time recording machine in which the stamping operation is controlled by photo-electric devices and is rendered operative by interruption of a ray of light normally directed toward a photoelectric cell, such interrupation being caused by the record sheet when placed in stamping position.

.A further feature of our invention relates to an improved construction by which all parts of the photo-electric devices are assembled and mounted on a single supporting plate, secured within a separate compartment preferably formed in a removable sub-base of the machine.

Our invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of our invention is shown in the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of a time stamp embodying our improvements;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the base of the stamp, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the sub-base and associated parts, taken along the line 33 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of a photo-electric tube; Fig. 5 is a side elevation thereof, looking in the direction of the arrow 5 in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing certain photo-electric devices and electrical connections.

Referring to the drawings, our improved time stamp comprises an upper or cover portion [0, a middle or base portion II and a sub-base portion l2- The cover portion 10 contains the type wheels l5 and actuating mechanism therefor, the type ribbon l6 wound on spools l1, and a small exciter bulb 20 having wires 2| and 22 connected into an electric circuit which will be hereinafter described. The mechanism for actuating the type wheels I5 and for feeding the type ribbon l6 may be of any usual construction and forms no part of our present invention.

The cover portion I0 is pivoted at 24 to the base portion II and is provided with a suitable locking device (not shown) by which it is normally'maintained fixed in the position shown in Fig. 1 but from which position it may be swung upward after release of the locking device.

The base ll supports a plate 30, spaced from the cover portion III by an elongated slot or opening 3| in which the card or record sheet may be inserted for stamping. The sheet is commonly inserted from the front of the machine or from the right as viewed in Fig. l.

The plate 30 has a small round opening 32 (Fig. 2) through which light rays R (Fig. 1) may pass from the exciter bulb 20 tothe photo.- electric tube 33. When a record sheet is presented for stamping and is fully inserted in the slot 3|, the rays R are more or less fully interrupted, depending on the opaqueness of the record sheet, butin any event the strength of the rays is reduced to such an extent that the photoelectric devices cause a record to be stamped, as will be hereinafter described.

The actual stamping is performed by a platen 35 (Fig. I) mounted at the upper end of a plunger 36 slidable vertically in a solenoid coil 31. Current to energize the coil 31 is supplied to the coil through the normally closed contacts 38 (Fig. 1) in 'a control circuit to be described. As the platen rises, a projecting member 40 movable with the platen 35 engages an arm 4| mounted on a lever 42 which supports one of the contacts 38. Engagement of the arm 4| by the member 40 swings the lever 42 clockwise, breaking the circuit through the contacts 38 and causing the lower portion 43 of the lever to make contact with the armature 44 of a holding magnet 45. This magnet is energized at the same time that the solenoid 31 is rendered active but also remains energized after the solenoid circuit through the contacts 38 is broken. Consequently the contacts 38 are held apart until the magnet circuit is broken and even after the platen 35 returns to its normal lowered position. A pin 41 at the upper end of the plunger 36 operates through a lever 48 and arm 49 to feed the type ribbon l6 through connections not shown.

This platen-actuating mechanism forms in itself no part of our present invention but is included in the subject matter of a pending application of Alfred Ruttiman, Serial No. 275,571, filed May 24, 1939.

The various devices comprising the photoelectric control mechanism are preferably assembled on a plate 50, detachably secured by screws to the sub-base 12, which sub-base is in the form of a casing which is closed except at the top and which is normally covered by the base portion I l.

The photo-electric tube 33 is of any usual construction and is mounted on a bracket (Fig.3) which may be secured by screws 52 to the supporting plate 50. The bracket 5| extends upward through an opening 54 in the bottom of the base H, so that the tube 33 is supported at about the center of the base portion II but independently thereof.

The other parts assembled on the supporting plate 50 include an electronic or power-generating tube 55, a rheostat 56 which may be adjusted by turning a screw 57, a three-part transformer 60, a condenser 6 I, and a magnetic relay 62 which, when energized, closes the relay contacts 63 (Fig. 6). Three separate circuits A, B and C are taken oif of the transformer 60. The circult A continuously energizes the exciter bulb 20. The circuit B includes the photo-electric tube 33, and the circuit C includes the magnetic relay 62 which closes the relay contacts 63 and thereby completes the power circuit of the stamping solenoid coil 31 previously described.

From the foregoing description, the method of operation of our improved stamping mechanism will be readily understood. So long as the rays R from the bulb 20 strike the photo-electric tube 33, the resistance of the electronic or powergenerating tube 55 will remain high and the magnetic relay 52 will be inactive. When the rays of light are interrupted, either wholly or to a substantial extent, the photo-electric tube 33 acts automatically to reduce the resistance of the electronic tube 55, thus allowing a substantial current to flow through the coil of the magnetic relay- 62.

The relay then promptly closes the contacts 63 in the stamping solenoid circuit, andthe solenoid 31 is energized to stamp the record. As the record is stamped, the contacts 38 in the solenoid circuit'are separated, thus breaking the solenoid circuit. The holding magnet 45 in the shunt circuit then holds the contacts 38 open until the record sheet is removed and the relay contacts 53 open.

The entire stamping operation is thus initiated by inserting the record sheet and thereby interrupting the light rays which strike the photoelectric tube. The operation is practically instantaneous and no mechanical contact is made with the record sheet, which may be as thin or light as desired, provided it is sufilciently opaque to cut off a substantial part of the light rays.

The sensitiveness of the photo-electric control may be varied by adjusting the rheostat 55. With very thin or translucent paper, the rheostat will be adjusted so that the photo-electric control will respond to smaller variations in the amount of light reaching the tube 33.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

1. A recording apparatus comprising a. cover portion, a base portion and a sub-base, said base portion being mounted on but separate and detachable from said sub-base and having an opening in the bottom thereof and said sub-base being open at the top, impression devices and an exciter bulb mounted in said cover portion, impression mechanism mounted on said base portion and adapted to cooperate with said impression devices to produce a record; a photo-electric tube and control means for said impression mechanism mounted on said sub-base, said tube being entirely supported on said sub-base but being mounted on a member projecting upward through the opening in the bottom of the base portion and being positioned within said base portion, and a sheet-supporting plate on said base portion having a hole through which a selected light beam can pass from said bulb to said-tube, said control means coacting with said tube and light beam and being rendered operative to cause said impression mechanism to stamp a record when said light beam is interrupted, as by placing a record sheet on said supporting plate to cover the opening therein.

2. A recording apparatus comprising a cover portion, a base portion and a sub-base, said base portion being mounted on but separate and detachable from said sub-base, impression devices and an exciter bulb mounted in said cover portion, impression mechanism mounted in said base portion and adapted to cooperate with said impression devices to produce a record, a plate removably mounted in said sub-base, a photoelectric tube and control means for said impression mechanism mounted on said removable plate, said sub-base being open at the top but covered by said base portion, and said base portion having an opening in the bottom thereof and having a record-supporting plate mounted thereon which is provided with an opening through which a selected beam of light from said bulb is directed to said tube, and said control means coacting with said tube and light beam and being rendered operative to cause said impression mechanism to stamp a record when said light beam is interrupted, as by placing a record sheet on said supporting plate to cover the opening therein.

HENRY N. DEANE. EDWARD M. PRITCHARD. ELBERT W. SHERMAN. 

